(February 13, 2010) The Vatican has announced it is issuing two postage stamps with
Asian themes - one featuring pioneering Jesuit missionary Father Matteo Ricci and
another to commemorate the visit of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej to Blessed Pope John
XXIII in 1960. The Vatican and Thailand will collaborate on the King Bhumipol stamp,
L’Osservatore Romano reported. Thailand and the Holy See have had relations for more
than 400 years. The issue of the Father Ricci stamp is seen as a way to keep the focus
of attention on China this year as well as to commemorate the anniversary of the Jesuit’s
death. Father Ricci died in Beijing on May 11, 1610, and is buried there. Father Ricci,
who became fluent in Chinese and was well respected in the country, has become a symbol
of dialogue between East and West at a time when relations between Catholicism and
the Chinese authorities are sometimes strained. Sino-Vatican ties were broken in 1951
when Beijing’s new Communist rulers expelled the papal nuncio. The Vatican has been
issuing stamps since August 1, 1929, and these have become prized collectors’ items
the world over.